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 Dick Innes


Weekend Encounter

Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes          
Published by: ACTS International

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Vol. 17 – No. 2815 July 11, 2015

 
Thought for the week: "Choice, not chance, determines human destiny." – Robert W. Ellis
 
Index
1.   Words of Wisdom
2.   On the Lighter Side ... The Bagpiper
3.   Power of the Printed Page—the Written Word
4.   Liberal Paradise
5.   Joseph Meister Lived
6.   Changing Lives Through Love
7.   Successful Failures
8.   Receive Daily Encounter Devotional  Without Charge
9.   Weekend Encounter E-mail Edition  Without Charge
10.   Know God ... Without Having to Be Religious
11.   Prayer Partners Needed
12.   Please Help Support Weekend Encounter
13.   Helpful Books, CDs, and Cassettes
14.   Services Without Charge
15.   ACTS in Action Report; Archives for Daily and Weekend Encounter

1. Words of Wisdom

"A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle." – Benjamin Franklin

"To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes, the wise and the good learn wisdom for the future." – Plutarch

"The heights that some reached and kept were not attained in sudden flight. For these, while their companions slept, toiled upward in the night."
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is." – Ernest Hemingway

"I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion—and where it isn't, that's where my work lies." – Ram Dass

"The man who chases two rabbits catches neither." – Confucius

Index

2. On the Lighter Side ... The Bagpiper

As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Nova Scotia back country.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late.

I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played "Amazing Grace", the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head was hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I have never seen anything like that before, and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

Author Unknown. Submitted by Bill Darling

Index

3. Power of the Printed Page—the Written Word

God inspired a German to invent the first printing press. The first book that he printed was the Bible, The Gutenberg Bible. I am sure that this invention was for spreading the Word of God.

For hundreds of years the Bible was the most widely-printed book in the world. This is no longer so. The Christian Church has failed to use the printing press which God gave us to communicate His message to the world.

Meanwhile, false cults and philosophies have made full use of God's gift to the Church. For instance, in 1967 alone, Communist China published over 500 million copies, in twenty-three languages, of the writings of Mao Tsetung.

We must not let this great opportunity slip form us. It is still true that the printed page is the most potent means of communicating a message. Literature is a God-given tool to use for the spread of the Gospel.1

Today, while we still have the printed page that is used extensively worldwide, in addition we have perhaps even greater and more dynamic means of communication via the electronic media with the ever increasing use of computers, Kindall and all the hand held electronic communication devices—almost all of which are still using the written word.

So are we in the Church, taking full advantage of this incredible means of communication—or are we just the same as we were after the printing press was invented? Check out the average church website and you will find that all of the content is directed to the church members, and you may be hard-pressed to even find a gospel message.

For instance, it is reported by Tony Whittaker of Digital Evangelism Issues (DEI) that "every single day more than two million people around the world search the Internet for spiritual hope, meaning and purpose." What an incredible opportunity this provides for today's Christians to help fulfill Christ's Great Commission to so many people worldwide! This opportunity is a constant reminder of the words of Jesus who said, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matthew 24:14). Even so come, Lord Jesus.

1. Condensed from Logos News by Paul Kauffman.

Index

4. Liberal Paradise

"A liberal paradise would be a place where everybody has guaranteed employment, free comprehensive healthcare, free education, free food, free housing, free clothing, free utilities, and only law enforcement has guns.

And believe it or not, such a place does, indeed, exist.... It's called prison."

– Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff's Office

Index

5. Joseph Meister Lived

Louis Pasteur, the pioneer of immunology, lived at a time when thousands of people died each year of rabies.

Pasteur had worked for years on a cure. Just as he was about to begin experimenting on himself, a nine-year-old, Joseph Meister, was bitten by a rabid dog. The boy's mother begged Pasteur to experiment on her son. Pasteur injected Joseph for ten days—and the boy lived. Decades later, of all things Pasteur could have had etched on his tombstone, he asked for three words: "Joseph Meister Lived."

Thought: Our greatest legacy will be those who live eternally in heaven because of our efforts.

Leadership Journal. Cited in www.oakhillcoc.org.

Index

6. Changing Lives Through Love

      By Michael Josephson of CHARACTER COUNTS (916.3)

Imagine being put in charge of a residential camp for delinquent teenage girls confined because they are considered dangerous. Many have serious mental health issues, impulse control problems, and an awful lot of anger.

One of the last terms you'd apply to any of these girls is lovable.

So when Pauline Starks and her colleague Gerry Davis (both with more than 25 years of experience at the Los Angeles Probation Department) spoke to the Josephson Institute's Board of Governors about the importance of giving these girls love, it was pretty impressive. They refused to write these girls off as if they were social rubbish to be thrown or locked away. Instead, they saw young, damaged girls who needed and deserved to be loved.

They came to talk about how the CHARACTER COUNTS! program helped them change the lives of juveniles confined to Camps Scott and Scudder in Lancaster, California, and there wasn't a person in the room who was not inspired.

It's been said that kids don't care what you know until they know that you care. Pauline and Gerry told stories and cited statistics to prove the effectiveness of liberally applied caring and respect. You might expect that nearly three decades of working with criminals would harden them, yet they spoke of the girls with such tenderness, and described little successes with such pride, that it was evident that their natural compassion and empathy shielded them from cynicism.

What a joy it was to spend an evening with these mortal angels who have found meaning and purpose in changing lives through love.

For Commentaries go to: http://whatwillmatter.com/category/commentary/

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

© 2015 Josephson Institute of Ethics; reprinted with permission. Michael Josephson, one of the nation's leading ethicists, is the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the premier youth character education program, CHARACTER COUNTS! For further information visit www.charactercounts.org

Index

7. Successful Failures

A sample of Daily Encounter by Dick Innes

"For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again."1

Chances are you've read about all of the following failures who ended up making a great impact in their chosen field of endeavor.

For example, as a young man Abraham Lincoln went to war as a captain and returned as a private. Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." Albert Einstein didn't speak until he was four-years-old and didn't read until he was seven. Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry.

Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded. F. W. Woolworth was not allowed to wait on customers when he worked in a dry goods store. When Bell telephone was struggling to get started, its owners offered all their rights to Western Union for $100,000. The offer was disdainfully rejected with the pronouncement, "What use could this company make of an electrical toy."

An expert said of Vince Lombardi: "He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation." Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Babe Ruth is famous for his past home-run record, but for decades he also held the record for strikeouts.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." Charles Schultz of "Peanuts" fame had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff—and Walt Disney wouldn't hire him. After his first audition, Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director, "Why don't you stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?" When Lucille Ball began studying to be actress in 1927, she was told by the head instructor of the John Murray Anderson Drama School, "Try any other profession."2

What we learn from these people is that none of these people gained instant success. They suffered rejection, setbacks and failures—but they had a passion for what they wanted to do and stuck with it until they made it. And for those of us who believe God has a purpose for our life we need to do the same, and in the words of Winston Churchill: "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never, Never give up."

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to discover my God-given life purpose and with Your help pursue it with great enthusiasm and never, never, never, never give up. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."

1. Proverbs 24:16 (NKJV).
2. Source: Self-Efficacy Site (website URL no longer working).


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Index

13. Helpful Books, CDs and Cassettes

Oprah Winfrey: "Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi." – Oprah Winfrey

Click HERE for books, CDs, tapes and poems by Dick Innes and others.

Index

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Index

15. ACTS in Action Report and Encounter Archives

ARCHIVES: Daily and Weekend Encounters



"Because the world is hungry,
go with bread.
Because the world is filled with strife,
go with peace.
Because the world is filled with deceptions and lies,
go with truth.
Because the world would die without,
go with the love of God."



© 2015 ACTS International


Know God

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